Photographer's Note

First of all, I'd like to wish all TE members who celebrate Christmas, a Merry Christmas! Its a time of year to spend less time at work and more with our family and friends.

I apologize for not posting a Holiday photo, there hasn't been much in the way of snow here in Vancouver, just rain. I'll try to find a winter photo for you soon :)

As for my photo today from Cuba, I went with "Darkness on the Edge of Town" from Bruce Springsteen - my idol. Springsteen is famous for writing songs about cars, classic cars, lovers getting lost on the hwy's in cars, he uses cars as a romantic metaphor over and over again. So this scene just seemed to fit that motif.

I found this beauty of a beast while walking the "Backstreets" (another Springsteen song) of Havana on our first night in the city. We arrived at 8 pm, we got settled into our Casa by about 930pm and I wanted to get out there and take photos. Tosca didn't take her camera with her on this photo shoot, saying she's too tired, i thought she was CRAZY!

As we walked the backstreets, not knowing where we were going, we bumped into this car and Tosca regretted leaving her camera at the Casa.

This photo is HDR, three long exposures of 8 sec, 7 sec, and 9 sec. Hope you like it.
In the WS is another view of the same car.

Hi Craig
one of my favourite "Boss" albums and what a superb shot to celebrate this fine song too! This just looks amazing Craig, and from this POV and in this setting so worthy of a cover for any new Springsteen album. Post processing immaculate and just entrancing. Super stuff mate, I love it!

Hello Craig,
Nice capture of this Oldie with many interesting notes.
Believe me or not a similar version of this car but in pale green was been decorated and used to our wedding in 1968 ! It was a great success !
TFS and a Merry Christmas to you !
MESUT ILGIM

Hello Craig,
For a lover of old buildings and old cars , Cubas seems to be a paradise ! This is here a superb night capture with these two elements . And "Darkness of the edge of town" is , in my opinion , the second best album of Springsteen , after "Born to run"
Happy Christmas to you and your family .
Regards

Hello Craig,
Great HDR work here. The car, which has seen better days, sits well against that rather grotty background. Superb rendering of tones and textures. All the best to you and yours for Christmas and New Year.

Hello Craig,
Even if the picture had been taken in the 50's, we would probably not see the difference. It definately has the flavour of Cuba and I love the somewhat retro atmosphere which you've perfectly captured here. The low POV with the antique car filling half the frame along with the background buildings make for a great scene. Superb quality image with lovely light.
Merry Christmas to you.
Christian

Hi Craig,what a pic and what a atmosphere,it seems a scene coming from the day after...eheheh....truly original perspective and fantastic quality as usual,it's nice to watch a very particular Cuba! I wish you all the best me too to you and Tosca and thanks for share,Luciano

Hello Craig,
This car certainly is a beauty of a kind. It seems to have aged with grace. To me, what really makes this picture special is the light closest to us and the darkness behind. It creates the kind of atmosphere that would make a first night in a new place quite exciting. Thge title was well chosen too.
All the best,
Gert

hi craig. i guess, this should be what you wished from santa, i hope he brings it to you and attached you will also find 5 more distant travels for the coming year :)

great hdr job. the whole scene is so solid and real, the exposure is immaculately finished. if you had made it to istanbul some 15 years ago, you would find the streets dominated by old yellow chevies. we used to use them as public transports :)

Hello Craig
Lovely framing and colours. The old car nicely depicted. The dim lit background adds an element of mystery to the photograph like that of a Hitchcock film. Thanks for sharing. Have a nice day and Happy Christmas!
Satya

As usual, I've been trying to work out just what make of car this is and I think my closest guess is that it might just be a Plymouth Belvedere from the late 50s. But it has certainly seen life and that shows up so well in the light which so amazing here: it's almost a contre jour shot and the light hits the left side of the car obliquely showing up every little ripple in the scarred bodywork.

It is the fabulous lighting as well as your expert use of HDR which makes this one such a stunner of a photograph. The car stands out wonderfully against a background which looks almost surreal with its dark gloomy walls and bright windows.

And, of course, your workshop picture puts it all in perspective. Both pictures are fabulous, especially for a petrolhead like me, with fantastic light and colours, perfect exposure and processing and, as always, exquisite details and sharpness.

Hi Craig,
I imagine you found yourself like in haven with all these cars. Amazing shot, it was worth going in the night after long flight. I would go with a camera too :).
Have a wonderful day with Tosca and friends and family.
For a senior woman in the family Christmas means a lot of time in the kitchen. But today I can rest.
Malgo

Hi Craig, great view of this interesting scene, very well composed and captured in this excellent picture. A really interesting image with good sharpness, depth and quality. A great job well done, congratulations my friend. Thanks for sharing this beautiful work.

Good morning and happy rest of the week.
Best wishes from southern Spain.
Angel.

Hello Craig
Not this is such an iconic subject for Cuba. It is simply a great scene a a superb photograph. The old car in that run down district of Havanna is so time less and the prevailing yellow of the scene makes it really attractive. Simply gorgeous indeed.
Sorry to hear that Vancouver suffers from a wet christmas to, over here it has been raining for days on end.
Merry christmas and a happy new year to you and your loved ones.
Daniel

Hi Craig,
So Stephen Kings Christine and alive and well, living in Cuba! I knew she would retire somewhere beautiful after her illustrious movie career :)
The light you captured this beauty under really adds a touch of drama and brings life to the car, it looks quite creepy which is what reminded me of Christine. Once again, a beautiful point of view too, which shows the street stretching off into the distance. The graffiti on the wall adds to the mood too. Very nice capture, and a very cool shade of yellow on the car, fine matt finish!
All the best
Noel

And a happy happy New Year to you! Hope You cashed in from Santy and will be a good boy for the remaining few days of the year.

You know I don't like HDR but will make a big exception here. This is so cool. The extreme wide angle, the shadowy, skanky atmosphere, the excellent colours and light balance, would have been so difficult to achieve with a single shot. This should be on the cover of a detective story! In fact, my favourite guitarist (Rory Gallagher RIP) and favourite crime writer (Ian Rankin who has the restraining order on me) have just joined forces to create Kickback City, a crime novella set to Rory's kick a@se guitar. This photo should be in it! Though love the Springsteen soundtrack too,

Hello Craig,
You have taken a step back I time with this amazing shot. The yellow light and the crumbling buildings gives load of atmosphere. Everything is very well placed in the frame and the post-processing suits the subject.
Tremendous shot.
Best wishes for the New Year,
Ann

Wow! You know I`m a fan of Bruce:) Of course I love this brilliant work of yours. Believe it or not - just a few weeks ago I drove past some abandoned buildings in the outskirt of central Bergen, and I was thinking of this song and thought it would be a nice title for a shot captured here. Perhaps I will check it out again. Anyway, the whole scene is excellently captured with the beautiful lines of that old car as a perfect foreground. Lovely lighting and a very suitable emptiness in the street. Love it, love it, love it!!! Thanks for sharing this beauty)

Hi Craig !!
2013 has been a great year for you.... fantastic travelling and very nice photos.
I wish you the same or better for 2014.
I love th yellowish tones in this photo..... from the artificial illumination and the colour of the car ..... and also...... decay at its best !!!!
Cheers
Gus

Hi Craig,
These old cars are so photogenic, and this one is placed so perfectly in equally photogenic surroundings. Love the ambient light giving a great atmosphere and cinematic feel. NIce angle of view too.
All the best for 2014.
Regards
Wanda

another fantastic old american car pic in Cuba! the light is perfectly focused on parts of the car, the total yellow tones fit well, and the universe around the car put it on value for the eyes with so special atmosphere!!! perfect moody pic of Cuba

Hi Craig,
I was offline most of Christmas time, but I saw this and wanted to comment earlier.
On this one the car style and background match perfectly, including colours!
Together with your signature wide angle this is just awesome. And sure Bruce and his title suits too, I wonder if there's a counterpart of him in Cuba.
Happy New Year!
Kari

Hi Craig,
I saw a report on TV today that said people from Cuba can now buy new cars. But they are so expensive (10,000 months of salary for a worker !) that these old american cars should be in Cuba streets for a long time ! Great point of view and excellent HDR processing.
Regards,
Olivier

Hello Craig,
I didn't think it was a HDR picture ! The long exposure gives a great light , specially on the yellow car and the façade just behind. I love the blue-yellow tones of the photo.
Happy new year Craig !
Delphine